Andrew Tobias: The State of the World
Our future can really be bright - not least because of the amazing technological advances on the horizon. But for us to succeed, we will need to learn to spread the wealth those technological advances will create (not by going overboard with confiscatory taxation, but by finding a balance that recognizes both the need for rewards and incentives and the need for shared prosperity and a vibrant, healthy, well educated middle class).
Connie Schultz: Answer the Question, Candidate Gingrich (Creators Syndicate)
Such lessons are lost on Gingrich. Where there should be humility, there is hubris. Instead of contrition, there is an astonishing display of contempt. Every time Gingrich attacks the "elite media," I feel a surge of pride that I'm paid to ask annoying questions. Again, candidate Gingrich, the question: How do you respond to charges of hypocrisy? We're waiting. Sir.
Froma Harrop: I Want My Planet Back (Creators Syndicate)
The Republican candidates may go around calling for an expanded space program without expanded taxes, but we earthlings know different. On our planet, taxes pay for government. And frankly, I want my planet back.
RACHEL EMMA SILVERMAN: No More Résumés, Say Some Firms (Wall Street Journal)
Union Square Ventures recently posted an opening for an investment analyst. Instead of asking for résumés, the New York venture-capital firm-which has invested in Twitter, Foursquare, Zynga and other technology companies-asked applicants to send links representing their "Web presence," such as a Twitter account or Tumblr blog. Applicants also had to submit short videos demonstrating their interest in the position.
Torie Bosch: Does Google Accurately Guess Your Age and Gender? (Slate)
Ars Technica's Casey Johnston has started a fun new game: find out what Google guesses is your age and gender. These "inferred demographics" are based on the websites you visit and are tracked by a Google cookie; they are used for advertising purposes. Given Google's controversial announcement Tuesday that users will not be able to opt out of new privacy changes, learning what the company thinks about you seems particularly useful, and informative.
Luc Sante: The Mother Courage of Rock (New York Review of Books)
I first heard of Patti Smith in 1971, when I was seventeen. The occasion was an unsigned half-column item in the 'New York Flyer,' a short-lived local supplement to 'Rolling Stone,' marking the single performance of 'Cowboy Mouth,' a play she cowrote and costarred in with Sam Shepard, and it was possibly her first appearance in the press.
Brian Crecente: The dawn of the new book (McClatchy-Tribune News Service)
"As far as I'm concerned, I want to create really great interactive story experiences," said Simon Meek, TernTV's head of digital and multiplatform content and executive producer of the Digital Adaptations project. "I want to take story-telling on interactive platforms to the next level."
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, better known simply as Gulliver's Travels (1726, amended 1735), is a novel by Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of the "travellers' tales" literary sub-genre. It is Swift's best known full-length work, and a classic of English literature.
Source
Charlie replied:
Not hard to guess, Gulliver's Travels.
A bit more Bertrand Russell:
For many purposes, a class and a defining characteristic of it are practically interchangeable. The vital difference between the two consists in the fact that there is only one class having a given set of members, whereas there are always many different characteristics by which a given class may be defined. Men may be defined as featherless bipeds, or as rational animals, or (more correctly) by the traits by which Swift delineates the Yahoos. It is this fact that a defining characteristic is never unique which makes classes useful; otherwise we could be content with the properties common and peculiar to their members.2 Any one of these properties can be used in place of the class whenever uniqueness is not important.
Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy, pp. 13-14
Sally said:
Jonathan Swift's, "Gulliver's Travels," is the formal title of the novel, "Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts."
Ooh, looks so intriguing to read - not!
Better cover, still not appealing for me...
This was considered a 'boy's book' in my day.
PS: Great, no fantastic, picture, grandpa JoeS!
PPS: Oh, and I forgot an important point in my story from yesterday. I was living in Colorado when my precious gs was born in the Bronx. MY SIL called me from the delivery room (on his cell phone) and let me listen to his first cry. It was then that I totally forgot my customer on hold - so freaking awesome was it, to hear that sound...
Jim from CA, retired to ID, replied:
Gulliver's Travels
Marian responded:
Gulliver's Travels
Adam answered:
Without peeking, 'Gulliver's Travels'.
Dale of Diamond Springs said:
"Travels Into several Remote Nations of the World by Lemuel Gulliver, or as today referred to as "Gulliver's Travels", by Irishman Jonathon Swift in 1726, (amended in 1735). I will not name all four titles. The book was written as a satire directed at the Whig Party of England.
MAM wrote:
'Gulliver's Travels', a novel by Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift.
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'Rules Of Engagement', followed by a RERUN'Mike & Molly', then a RERUN'CSI: The Original One', followed by '48 Hours'.
NBC opens the night with a RERUN'Harry's Law', followed by FRESH'Figure Skating'.
'SNL' is a RERUN, with Jimmy Fallon hosting, music by Michael Bublé.
ABC starts the night with a RERUN'Wipeout', followed by the movie 'Blades Of Glory'.
The CW offers an old 'Family Guy', followed by another old 'Family Guy', then an old 'Futurama', followed by another old 'Futurama'.
Faux fills the night with FRESH'UFC On Fox', then pads the left coast with 'Cops', more 'Cops', and some local crap.
MY has an old 'The Closer', followed by another old 'The Closer'.
AMC offers the movie 'Batman Begins', followed by the movie 'Under Siege', then the movie 'Hard To Kill'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] Doctor Who-Ep 3 Planet of the Ood
[7:00AM] Doctor Who-Ep 4 The Sontaran Strategem
[8:00AM] Doctor Who-Ep 5 The Poison Sky
[9:00AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares-Ep 2 D-Place
[10:00AM] Jamie Oliver's American Road Trip-Ep 4 - Louisiana
[11:00AM] Torchwood: Children of Earth (60)-Episode 1
[12:00PM] Torchwood: Children of Earth (60)-Episode 2
[1:00PM] Torchwood: Children of Earth (60)-Episode 3
[2:00PM] Torchwood: Children of Earth (60)--Episode 4
[3:00PM] Torchwood: Children of Earth (60)Episode 5
[4:00PM] Battlestar Galactica-Ep 18 - The Son Also Rises
[5:00PM] Battlestar Galactica-Ep 19 - Crossroads, Part 1
[6:00PM] Battlestar Galactica-Ep 20 - Crossroads, Part 2
[7:00PM] Battlestar Galactica-Ep 3 - He That Believeth In Me NEW
[8:00PM] Battlestar Galactica-Ep 4 - Six of One NEW
[9:00PM] The Fades-Episode 3 NEW
[10:15PM] The Graham Norton Show-Ep 12 - Liam Neesan, Patrick Stewart, Alan Davies, Ed Sheeran NEW
[11:00PM] Would You Rather? with Graham Norton-Ep 9 - Jessi Klein, Christian Finnegan, Michelle Buteau, Sam Seder NEW
[11:30PM] Would You Rather? with Graham Norton-Ep 8 - Baron Vaughn, Jessi Klein, Dave Hill, Christian Finnegan
[12:00AM] The Fades-Episode 3
[1:15AM] Aliens NEW
[4:15AM] The Fades-Episode 3
[5:30AM] Would You Rather? with Graham Norton-Ep 9 - Jessi Klein, Christian Finnegan, Michelle Buteau, Sam Seder (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has the movie 'Braveheart', followed by the movie 'Braveheart', again.
Comedy Central has 'Jim Gaffigan: King Baby', 'Gabriel Iglesias: Hot & Fluffly', 'Daniel Tosh: Happy Thoughts', followed by the FRESH'John Mulaney: New In Town'.
FX has the movie 'Armageddon', followed by the movie '2012'.
History has 'Only In America With Larry TCG', 'Pearl Harbor: 24 Hours After', 'Cajun Pawn Stars', and another 'Cajun Pawn Stars'.
IFC -
[6:00AM] Invincible
[8:45AM] Portlandia-Cool Wedding
[9:15AM] Portlandia-Grover
[9:45AM] The Whitest Kids U'Know
[10:00AM] The Three Stooges-Back From the Front
[10:25AM] The Three Stooges-Brideless Groom
[10:50AM] The Three Stooges-Crime on Their Hands
[11:15AM] The Three Stooges-Disorder in the Court
[11:40AM] The Three Stooges-Fuelin' Around
[12:05PM] The Three Stooges-Fiddlers Three
[12:30PM] The Three Stooges-Gents Without Cents
[12:55PM] The Three Stooges-Grips, Grunts and Groans
[1:20PM] The Three Stooges-Higher Than a Kite
[1:45PM] I Love Sarah Jane
[2:00PM] Curse of the Golden Flower
[4:30PM] Dark Mirror
[6:15PM] The Prisoner
[8:00PM] Hostel
[10:00PM] Hostel Part II
[12:00AM] George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
[2:00AM] Hostel
[4:00AM] Hostel Part II (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:00A] ALL ON THE LINE WITH JOE ZEE - Aysha Saeed: Stop Being Controlling (Episode 4, Season 2)
[7:00A] THE MORTIFIED SESSIONS - Singer Alanis Morissette & TOM Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie (Episode 9, Season 1)
[7:30A] THE MORTIFIED SESSIONS - Filmmaker Ed Burns & Bridesmaids' Paul Feig (Episode 8, Season 1)
[8:00A] Love Lust & The Paranormal
[9:00A] Encounters At The End Of The World
[10:45A] Wild Combination: A Portrait Of Arthur Russell
[12:00P] GIRLS WHO LIKE BOYS WHO LIKE BOYS - Naughty or Nice? (Nashville)
[12:30P] GIRLS WHO LIKE BOYS WHO LIKE BOYS - Let's Get This Party Started (Nashville)
[1:00P] GIRLS WHO LIKE BOYS WHO LIKE BOYS - Too Heavy, Too Hard, Too Fast (Nashville)
[1:30P] GIRLS WHO LIKE BOYS WHO LIKE BOYS - Dealing with Some Demons (Nashville)
[2:00P] GIRLS WHO LIKE BOYS WHO LIKE BOYS - The Sex Video (Nashville)
[2:30P] GIRLS WHO LIKE BOYS WHO LIKE BOYS - He Sucks Me In
[3:00P] GIRLS WHO LIKE BOYS WHO LIKE BOYS - Clean, Sexy & Classy (Nashville)
[3:30P] GIRLS WHO LIKE BOYS WHO LIKE BOYS - Train Wreck (Nashville)
[4:00P] GIRLS WHO LIKE BOYS WHO LIKE BOYS - Get Out of My House
[4:30P] GIRLS WHO LIKE BOYS WHO LIKE BOYS - A Dirty Word (Nashville - Ep. 10)
[5:00P] GIRLS WHO LIKE BOYS WHO LIKE BOYS - Crash & Burn (Nashville - Ep. 11)
[5:30P] GIRLS WHO LIKE BOYS WHO LIKE BOYS - Intervention (Nashville - Ep. 12)
[6:00P] Peter and Vandy
[7:20P] Alarm
[9:05P] Brokedown Palace
[10:50P] Blind Date
[12:10A] Nights and Weekends
[1:30A] Brokedown Palace
[3:15A] Blind Date
[4:35A] Nights and Weekends (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'Ice Twisters', followed by the movie 'Swamp Volcano'.
Husband and wife actors Brad Hall and Julia Louis-Dreyfus arrive at the premiere of the feature film "Darling Companions" in Santa Barbara, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012.
Photo by Michael A. Mariant
A Wisconsin teacher refused to accept an award from Rep. Paul Ryan during a ceremony last week, saying he couldn't do so "in good conscience" because of the Republican congressman's politics.
Al Levie, a high school social studies teacher in Racine, Wis., was one of three recipients of a Martin Luther King Jr. humanitarian award during a celebration honoring the late civil rights leader. Ryan, who represents the district, was on hand to present congressional recognitions to each award winner, the Kenosha News reported.
In a video of the ceremony, Ryan is seen stepping from behind the podium to hand the award to Levie, who backs away and instead turns to speak to the audience. His words aren't audible, but according to the video's captions he said, "I can't in good conscience accept this award, as a humanitarian, Paul Ryan stands for everything I don't believe in."
"I would not accept the award from Paul Ryan because Paul Ryan is a lackey for the 1 percent," he said. "Paul Ryan had no business at a Martin Luther King event, it's totally hypocritical. On the one hand he votes to slash health care, while on the other hand, King dedicated his life and he died for it, for people to have adequate healthcare, to have adequate jobs."
"King made it very clear that he was on the side of working people," he continued. "Ryan on the other hand, he has absolutely no affinity for the working class and for him to come to an event where somebody of King's stature was honored is wrong."
According to the Racine Journal Times, Levie serves with Voces de la Frontera, an advocacy group for immigrant and low wage worker rights, and is part of the local NAACP. He's also a teacher and program director for the Wisconsin Correctional Service.
Neil Young, left, and Jonathan Demme from the film "Heart of Gold," pose for a portrait during the 2012 Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Park City, Utah.
Photo by Victoria Will
Cynthia Nixon learned the hard way this week that when it comes to gay civil rights, the personal is always political.
The actress best known for portraying fiery lawyer Miranda Hobbes on "Sex and the City" waded into a controversy when The New York Times Magazine quoted her as saying that for her, being gay was a conscious choice.
Nixon is engaged to another woman with whom she has been in a relationship for eight years. Before that, she spent 15 years and had two children with a man.
Among the gay rights activists angered by the remarks is Truth Wins Out founder Wayne Besen, whose organization monitors programs that claim to cure people of same-sex attractions.
Besen says Nixon's comments could be used to force people into such programs.
Two teens from Toronto successfully launched a Lego figure into near space -- and launched a storm of interest on the Web.
Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad, 17-year-old classmates at Agincourt Collegiate Institute, took four months, many Saturdays, and $400 to carry a Lego figurine and four cameras miles above the earth, a project that the two did for fun, not for class.
The clip of the Lego man in near space has gone viral, with 570,000 views and counting. Searches on Yahoo! for "lego man in space" have soared 325% in just one day.
Actors Diane Keaton, left, Ayelet Zurer, center, and Kevin Kline arrive at the premiere of the feature film "Darling Companions" in Santa Barbara, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012.
Photo by Michael A. Mariant
Country music singer Merle Haggard was resting at home in Northern California on Friday after a long stint in a Georgia hospital, his publicist said.
Haggard, 74, was hospitalized on January 17 for treatment of double-pneumonia. While in the hospital in Macon, Georgia, doctors discovered a number of other conditions for which Haggard needed treatment.
Publicist Tresa Redburn said Haggard flew home on Thursday and she had no update on his condition Friday.
Doctors had the double-pneumonia pretty much cleared up earlier this week. The singer stayed in the hospital to recover after eight polyps were removed from his colon and for treatment of three stomach ulcers and diverticulitis in his esophagus, all of which were discovered by the Macon medical staff, said Redburn.
Haggard had to cancel the remainder of his January tour. He is planning to resume his tour on February 28 in Tucson, Arizona, Redburn said, and missed dates are being rescheduled in April.
Jesse Jackson is entering the fray over The Recording Academy's cuts to its Grammy categories: He's asking to meet with the president of the organization and has raised the possibility of protests with the awards a little less than two weeks away.
The civil rights activist sent a letter to Neil Portnow, the president and CEO of the Academy, and expressed his dismay over the academy's decision last April to cut its categories from 109 to 78. In the letter, he said he had been talking to members of the entertainment community and asked that his organization, Rainbow Push Coalition, "meet with you urgently to express our concerns and to see if we might help resolve this conflict ... and allow the Grammys to do what they do best."
Some musicians in the Latin jazz community have filed a lawsuit against the Academy claiming the reductions in categories caused them irreparable harm.
The Academy decided last year to shrink its voluminous categories, the biggest overhaul in its then 53-year history, after a yearlong examination of the awards structure. Among the changes: elimination of some of the instrumental categories in pop, rock and country; traditional gospel; children's spoken-word album; Zydeco or Cajun music album; and best classical crossover album. In addition, men to women compete head-to-head in vocal performance categories instead of separate categories for each sex.
Director Lawrence Kasdan, right, and his wife, Meg, co-writers of the feature film "Darling Companions" arrive at the premiere of the film in Santa Barbara, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012.
Photo by Michael A. Mariant
A salsa dance instructor who worked on the TV show "So You Think You Can Dance" has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping one woman and assaulting another.
Prosecutors say Alex Da Silva gave dance lessons at salsa clubs where he met aspiring dancers he assaulted. The assaults were not related to the TV show.
Da Silva was convicted of raping a 22-year-old woman in 2002 and attacking another woman with intent to commit rape in 2009.
The jury deadlocked on four other counts, including two more alleged rapes. Those counts were dismissed.
Protesters hold a banner during a demonstration against the traditional annual right wing fraternity ball in Vienna January 27, 2012. The banner reads, "Sweep right wings from the street".
Photo by Leonhard Foeger
Cecilio Rodriguez, one-half of a popular and longtime Hawaii musical duo, pleaded no contest to molesting two young California girls in the 1990s and was sentenced Friday to a year in jail, prosecutors in Los Angeles said.
A judge in Los Angeles also sentenced Rodriguez to 52 weeks of sexual-offender counseling and five years' probation. If Rodriguez violates probation, he faces a six-year state prison term.
Rodriguez, 67, was arrested in September in Los Angeles County and charged with lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14.
Rodriguez is part of the singing group Cecilio & Kapono, which formed on Oahu's North Shore in 1973 when Rodriguez and Henry Kapono were introduced by mutual friends. Kapono could not immediately be reached for comment Friday. At the time of his musical partner's arrest, Kapono expressed shock and said he was saddened for Rodriguez and heartbroken for the family involved.
Ice keeper Norbert Jank pulls a block of ice out of Lake Weissensee to check the ice quality in Techendorf, Austria's southern Carinthia province, January 26, 2012. Techendorf is hosting the Alternatieve Elfstedentocht Weissensee (Alternative Eleven City Races Weissensee), a traditional Dutch series of speed skating events for both professionals and amateurs with some 6,000 participants, from January 23 to February 4.
Photo by Heinz-Peter Bader
Old Masters paintings brought in more than $120 million at auction sales this week, with several works selling for more than $5 million each and records set for some artists.
The top price in several days of sales at Christie's and Sotheby's was $5.9 million for Giambattista Tiepolo's "The Arrival of Henry VIII at the Villa Contarini" at Christie's, an auction record that was just under the work's high estimate.
Christie's sold $51.8 million worth of art including commission, up $21 million from its sales a year ago. But the total fell more than $15 million shy of the $67.7 million achieved at Sotheby's, which totaled more than $62 million on Thursday alone.
Fra Bartolommeo's "Saint Jerome in the Wilderness" soared to nearly $4.9 million, or more than three times the estimate, setting an artist's record.
Botticelli's "Madonna and Child with the Young Baptist" fetched $4.5 million, about four times the estimate.
A Hindu holy man waits for alms while lying down on the banks the confluence of rivers Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati, during the annual traditional fair of Magh Mela in Allahabad, India, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Hundreds of thousands of devout Hindus bathe at the confluence during the astronomically auspicious period of over 45 days celebrated as 'Magh Mela'.
Photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh
Walter Brunner, a lively 82-year old whose blue baseball cap matches the color of his eyes, leans across a red leather booth at the American-style diner in this southern German town and tries to make light of the looming pullout of U.S. troops.
He watched a young Elvis Presley arrive here for training in 1958 and still goes tenpin bowling with his American friends every Monday night.
News that the 172nd infantry brigade, with its 3,500 soldiers and 8,000 family members, is being pulled from Grafenwoehr to return to the United States has hit this town hard.
After 67 years of living together, locals in Bavaria say the Americans are not just their employers and customers, but also close friends.
Dick Kniss, a bassist who performed for five decades with the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary and co-wrote the John Denver hit "Sunshine on My Shoulders," has died. He was 74.
Kniss died Wednesday of pulmonary disease at a hospital near their home in the Hudson Valley town of Saugerties, said his wife, Diane Kniss.
Kniss was born in Portland, Oregon, and was an original member of Denver's 1970s band. He also played with jazz greats including Herbie Hancock and Woody Herman.
Active in the 1960s civil rights movement, Kniss performed at benefits for a range of causes and played during the first celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a national holiday.
Peter, Paul and Mary's Peter Yarrow said in a statement that Kniss was "our intrepid bass player for almost as long as we performed together.
"He was a dear and beloved part of our closest family circle and his bass playing was always a great fourth voice in our music as well as, conceptually, an original and delightfully surprising new statement added to our vocal arrangements," Yarrow said.
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wrote:
took the day off.
